It List: The Best New Hotels 2012

City: 137 Pillars House,Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai’s reputation as the low-key antidote to Bangkok’s bustling energy got a major boost when this tranquil, 30-suite retreat opened early this year. Other boutique properties in town clamor to out-hip one another, but 137 Pillars House strikes an entirely different note: that of a classic colonial hotel. Located in a leafy residential neighborhood near the Mae Ping River, the two-acre property was once part of the sprawling compound of a British teak-trading company. A beautifully restored 19th-century teakwood bungalow now houses a library and lounge, while each detail at the hotel, from the rattan planter’s chairs on private terraces to the discreetly attentive service, evokes an earlier, more genteel era. 137pillarshouse.com. $$